Fram- If you want to get carrots soft by steaming, cut them into small pieces first, then steam. Thinner pieces cook more quickly, but as a downside the more surface area, the more nutrients can escape, but if you are making fresh carrots, I think no matter how you cook them they will still have plenty of nutrients.

I thought I'd resurrect this thread for this question: Does anyone have a toddler friendly recipe for cod fish? I don't normally cook white fish. DD likes fish though (we've given her the fish part of breaded heat and serve fillets).

I second cooking in a foil pouch...keeps it from getting dried out...a little olive oil, a lemon slice and S&P. I'll also put some quick cooking veggies in there: cherry tomatoes, sliced zucchini, scallions and kalamata olives is my favorite combo. If it's for DD, I'd probably just do tomatoes and zucchini.

My dad's favorite way to cook it is to mix crushed ritz crackers with melted butter and lemon juice. Sprinkle on top of the fish, and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or so (depending on how thick the fish is). It's a big hit with my DD, and with me!

I know you said "healthier than breaded," but the breading on frozen or battered fish is a lot thicker than what I do so maybe you'd like this. I toss the fish in Progresso Parmesan bread crumbs (that coats it thinly) and fry in a little butter in a non-stick pan on the stove about 4 minutes on each side. A little butter goes a long way for flavor and texture. Steaming it in a pouch preserves any fishiness that kids don't always go for imo. No offense to the pouch crowd. :)

ETA: And, haddock is a little more kid friendly than cod imho. It's flakier, less dense as well as a bit milder in flavor.

Hello again!Still struggling a little with portion sizes for my 14 month old. I'm sure if DD is full she will stop... I worry sometimes that I don't give her enough, but then again I don't her to stuff herself full. For example, daycare recently mentioned that they fed her a whole banana. A whole banana??? I usually give her about 1/3 because I think a whole one is actually more than a serving even for an adult... true or false? But of course if I feed her banana for breakfast, I will also give her some cheerios and yogurt or something to cover additional food groups. Not sure if that was all daycare fed her in this instance.

For those of you with LOs around the same age, what are some typical meals you feed them?

I believe a good rule of thumb is that a person's stomach is the size of his/her two fists pressed against each other (palms towards each other, thumbs towards the face, if that makes sense). So that means yes, a banana probably is the fill her belly up size but then again, eating a banana that size is different than eating a piece of cheese that size. Also, as we know as adults who sometimes don't calorically compensate very well, a person's natural stomach size can be stuffed past full with a little tenacity (hello, Thanksgiving dinner!).

I've noticed my DD has always been able to put a banana away, even those huge bananas that seem like a lot for an adult. There have been days I've given her a banana in the car on the way to daycare, she's scarfed it down, and then upon entering and seeing that they are eating bananas and cereal she has cheered "Yay, bananas!" and sat down for a second one.

Wow a whole banana? I can only give DS a small piece or two or he gets backed up! If he ate a whole banana he wouldn't p00p for weeks! Haha!
DS is the same way he would eat a whole sweet potato if I gave it to him, but I don't. Id like him to eat some other things too. I cut his meals into chunks and leave in a bowl for the sitter so he gets some of the food groups. If he's still hungry he can have puffs or o's.

My DD will absolutely eat a whole banana. She loves them! She also insists on holding the whole banana, peel and all. And she's a peanut (20 lbs at her 15 month). She's just about 18 months now, but for portions I try to use the size of a plate/bowl as my guide for most things with her. I put her food on a bread plate when I portion it out...protein, veg, carb all proportional with what we have on our plates. Gives me a better sense of portion for her than in a bowl, for example. Sometimes she wants more of something, but most of the time, it's a pretty good baseline for what she'll eat.

Also, if it's fruit or veggies, she'll usually eat more of that than chicken, beans, cheese or pasta...makes sense, since it's a higher water content than the protein/carb rich foods.

And lastly...we're working on using utensils now, and so that means meals take a lot longer, so she's eating more slowly. That also means that rather than give her one or two bites on her plate, I can leave more out and not worry that she'll stuff her mouth full of it, since she's concentrating on getting the food on the fork!

My DD also loves banana! But at (almost) 2yrs we only give her half as a serving. Given the chance she'll happily subsist on fruit and water so it has to be limited so she gets a more balanced meal.

At 12 mo I want to say she was eating something like 1/2 babybel, 2 strawberries cut up and maybe half a meatball. I also think I would still try to give here those Gerber chicken dinners, and she'd have about half a jar (if that). She's also skinny (25lbs at 24mo) and not super food focused.

who knows what's typical for these crazy little ones?? Like luv's DD, mine is little (21 lbs at her 18 month) but she can absolutely put away a whole banana. However, like ajuly's LO, we restrict her to half because it blocks her up! I usually eat the other half and then show her how it's All Gone.Bananas are really the only think we restrict and it's just because of the stoppage.For other foods, we let her eat as much as she wants. It's totally bizarre, but the other night she ate two (adult size) pieces of pizza and a dish of ice cream. But when she wanted more ice cream, I gave her a bit more but told her that dish would be all (I was starting to think I was crazy for letting her eat all she wanted!) -- and she stopped after a few more bites, just of her own inclination.Then the next night she ate 3 pieces of pasta, one bite of carrot, and some milk and was done.

It was bothering me, but I did some reading and it seems like these huge variations are pretty normal in toddler land. So if a whole banana doesn't stop up the works, I say go for it.

DD's other favorite fruit is pears, so I think the pears balance out her banana obsession!

Also, I totally agree with medford...one night she'll eat a ton, and the next she'll have two bites and be done. Generally she's eating a variation of what we are, so I'm not usually making any special dinner for her.

On the two bite nights, I'll usually offer something that I know she loves (blueberries, a fruit pouch, something like that) as a test to see if she's not hungry or just not interested. If the blueberries go, she just wasn't in the mood for what we offered for dinner; if she only has one or two, I know she's full. Not scientific, by any means, but for some reason it makes me feel better that she refuses something I know she likes!

Babies really know when they are not hungry. There are meals where my kids will eat 4 mini pancakes, 3 sausages, a whole fruit cup, half a yogurt and a whole banana. I keep offering food until they stop taking. In the end it balances out (at least in my mind) the days where all they will eat is 2 crackers and milk.

I have never limited portion sizes on "real" food just on not so great for you foods like candy, cookies and soda all of which even the 18 month olds have had. None of the kids are remotely close to having weight problems (unlike mom), although DD1 is so tall and skinny I can see and feel her ribs, so until I see differently, I assume nature is working the right way and the kids aren't overeating.

Lily - I'm going to admit to considering pops an almost non-food. DD1, after dinner, can have as many as she wants which can be 3 or more depending on if they are big pops or the mini ones. I also make her wait until the 18 month olds are in bed 'cuz they love pops too but can't eat them neatly yet so sometimes she forgets she wanted one. ;-)

Our favorites now are the mighti-minis. They are about the size of your pinky finger. And they have a little gelatin in them so they don't melt as quickly.We have as many olf those as we like - especially if we've been good at dinner. :)

Those look awesome, misslily - what a great size, and the slow melting is pure genius. (I went to Popsicle.com and can hardly believe how many varieties there are. The last time I thought about a popsicle there was one box, the variety pack of blue raspberry, grape, orange, cherry (yuck), and I can't remember what else.)

In Response to Re: Transition to table food/family dinner : Lime! And you're crazy, red is the best!! Woe to the person who peers at the wrapper, thinks they're getting red, and ends up with orange, blech.Posted by medfordcc

ROTFLMAO!!! Oh, yeah, lime. No wonder I forgot, I hated that, too. Actually, I always wished they'd sell a whole box just of blue raspberry. I had discriminating taste and a thing for turning my tongue blue. ;)